


Beauty and the Thief

by Jaden Jackson (halfbloodxprince)



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan, The Trials of Apollo - Rick Riordan
Genre: Enemies to Lovers, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-21
Updated: 2021-03-05
Packaged: 2021-03-18 18:21:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 15,520
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29613534
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/halfbloodxprince/pseuds/Jaden%20Jackson
Summary: Cassie is a daughter of Aphrodite tasked with the purpose of keeping her mother alive. How do a fighter, snob, and mischievous kleptomaniac all fit into her story?
Relationships: Annabeth Chase/Percy Jackson, Calypso/Leo Valdez, Jason Grace/Piper McLean
Kudos: 4





	1. A Killer Date

Cassie yawned as the sound of screaming filled the movie theater. She was on a movie date with her current boy-toy, Eric or Earnest-or whatever his name was-and they were watching the newest horror blockbuster and she was bored as hell. It seemed like about the right time to break up with this kid. 

He held her hand tightly as yet another dumb girl in the movie walked down a dark staircase to her doom.

Cassie smiled as she thought about how pathetic this guy was. She was the more popular girls at their Lincoln Prep, and all she had to do was speak and guys would throw themselves at her feet to do her bidding. She’d landed herself into trouble several times for this same reason, as her Dad didn’t believe her story of only asking to borrow someone’s private jet. 

“Oh this is my favorite part!” the boy explains his grip tightening even more.

“You’re squeezing the hell out of my hand, can you like let go,” Cassie said trying to yank her hand out of his, but he didn’t let go and his grip became rock-hard.

She was suddenly startled when the volume of the movie increased, making her reach to cover her ear with her free hand as the screams became unbearably loud. The other people in the theater mirrored her movements and started to head for the doors.

Cassie stood up trying to follow suit but realized that Eric(or Everett) was still holding her hand and eagerly watching the movie, unaffected by the ear-bleeding shrieks coming from the screen.

“Let go!” She screamed using her free arm to pull at the other but she stopped cold once he turned to face him and she watched as his eyes glowed red. 

She screamed again as some sort of beast crashed through the movie screen. Looking at it again she noticed that it was a winged horse with a chariot connected at the back of it. A tall guy with dark hair and bright green eyes hopped out of the chariot.

Cassie turned and shared a confused look with her monster date before looking back at the guy.

“Sorry we’re a little late, it’s my turn to do the extractions now since I missed out all those other times,” He said scratching his head as he scanned the scene, “You’re Cassandra Adonis right?”

“Uh… yeah.” Cassie eyed the guy warily, before noticing movement in the chariot beside him, seeing the heads of a guy and another girl pop out.

“You haven’t run into a guy named Leo have you?” The guy said pulling a pen out of his pocket.

“What?” Cassie felt like she hadn’t understood a thing this guy had been talking about since he’d crashed in the movie theater.

“I guess that’s a no.”He said sounding slightly disappointed, before running up and clicking his pen.

Cassie gaped in wonder as it transformed into a sword in a flash. Cassie’s date swiftly released her arm before racing towards the guy too and changing shape into a lizard-like creature.

“Percy Jackson, here to ruin our plans again are you?” A deep gravelly voice erupted from the beast as he faced the guy who Cassie assumed he was addressing to be Percy.

“Yeah pretty much.” He said cracking a smile before running up and slicing the monster clean in half.

Cassie stood in shock as the monster crumbled away and Percy stepped over the ashes, starting towards her.

“Sorry I had to kill your boyfriend, but he was actually a basilisk. It didn’t look like you were having that much fun with him anyway.” He said before laughing at his own joke.

Cassie slowly backed up before speaking up, “Who the hell are you, and how did you do that?”

“Yeah I would love to spell it all out for you now but we’re like three hours behind schedule so I’ll explain to you on the chariot.”

Cassie scoffed, “I’m not getting on that.”

“Well, you could always wait here for more killer boyfriends?” Percy said tilting his head to one side, his eyes glinting in the light.

Cassie crossed her arms and rolled her eyes before reluctantly making her way towards the chariot that lay in the rubble of the front of the theater, careful to step over the dusty remains of Eric/Ernest and not ruin her three-hundred dollar shoes.

Stepping out from the ruined wall, Cassie realized that the chariot was a lot larger than it had looked from a distance. Going for a seat opposite of the other two passengers, she watched as Percy climbed in after her and grabbed the reins of the horse.

“Hi!” The girl in the other seat leaned forward stretching her hand out in a greeting gesture, “I’m Meghan, this is all kind of new to me too.”

She looked about sixteen with short blonde hair and circular glasses, and she was kind of cute but also way too perky for Cassie’s liking.

Cassie looked at her hand before reaching out and shaking it, “I’m Cassie. Is your friend mute?”

The boy visibly tensed up once he realized she was addressing him and stuttered, “I’m Dean.”

Dean looked to be about the same age as Meghan. He was Asian with a buzzcut and unsure look on his face like he wasn’t sure how he had gotten there-which Cassie could completely relate to.

“So basically Percy said that our parents our greek gods and that the safest place to be at is this camp he’s taking up to.” 

“And you believed him?” Cassie said raising an eyebrow.

Meghan seemed unsure of her decision for a second before continuing, “Well-i mean-he saved our lives right?”

Cassie narrowed her eyes, “So what?”

Meghan pulled back and didn’t speak again looking down at the floor. Cassie was a little more than pissed at the series of events that had taken place today. That kid hadn’t even bought her popcorn back at the movie theater. 

A little while later Cassie could practically hear Percy smiling as he yelled back to them from the reins, “Welcome to Camp Half-Blood!”

Cassie peered over the edge of the chariot gazing at open land, sprinkled with trees and hills. She sat back in her seat rolling her eyes at Meghan and Dean’s wonder.

The voices of campers progressively became louder as Percy landed the chariot. He was the first to hop out helping Dean, Meghan, and then Cassie out of the chariot. He handed off the reigns of the pegasus he called Blackjack off to some blonde kid and then led them towards the group of campers pooling at the entrance.

Cassie was startled when a girl walked out of the crowd, up to Percy, and planted a kiss square on his lips. 

“Guy’s this is Annabeth, my girlfriend.”Percy smiled down at her.

“Nice to meet you all.” She turned to Percy, “The new campers have been kind of old lately right, they all look about sixteen.”

As they rambled on Cassie shivered feelings eyes on her from the crowd. She jerked her head to see a tall elfish-looking boy with brown hair and electric blue eyes staring at her. He continued to stare at her, as Percy introduced them and his gaze intensified once he reached Cassie. She glared at him expecting him to look away in fear but her breath caught in her throat when a lopsided grin took over his face. 

Quickly averting her eyes, she only looked up again once the crowd released a collective gasp. Letting out her own gasp she gazed at the glowing symbols above Dean and Meghan’s heads.

Above Meghan’s head was the symbol of a dove surrounded in bright pink light and above Dean’s was a golden shoe with wings pulsing golden light. 

She looked above her own head and sighed rolling her eyes as Meghan jumped over to hug her, “OMG, we have the same sign and Percy said that means were sisters! Well, technically half-sisters since we don’t have the same Dad.”

Cassie tuned her out as a pretty girl with a deep tan and dark brown hair walked up to the two of them, “Hi, I’m Piper, I’m the Aphrodite Cabin counselor and you guys will be staying with us.”

Cassie shot her a bland smile, as her eyes strayed over to where the boy that had been staring at her introduced himself to Dean.

“Hi, I’m Connor, I’ll be your counselor over at Hermes Cabin.” He reached out to shake Dean’s hand, smiling at Cassie the entire time.

Cassie yawned as the sound of screaming filled the movie theater. She was on a movie date with her current boy-toy, Eric or Earnest-or whatever his name was-and they were watching the newest horror blockbuster and she was bored as hell. It seemed like about the right time to break up with this kid. 

He held her hand tightly as yet another dumb girl in the movie walked down a dark staircase to her doom.

Cassie smiled as she thought about how pathetic this guy was. She was the more popular girls at their Lincoln Prep, and all she had to do was speak and guys would throw themselves at her feet to do her bidding. She’d landed herself into trouble several times for this same reason, as her Dad didn’t believe her story of only asking to borrow someone’s private jet. 

“Oh this is my favorite part!” the boy explains his grip tightening even more.

“You’re squeezing the hell out of my hand, can you like let go,” Cassie said trying to yank her hand out of his, but he didn’t let go and his grip became rock-hard.

She was suddenly startled when the volume of the movie increased, making her reach to cover her ear with her free hand as the screams became unbearably loud. The other people in the theater mirrored her movements and started to head for the doors.

Cassie stood up trying to follow suit but realized that Eric(or Everett) was still holding her hand and eagerly watching the movie, unaffected by the ear-bleeding shrieks coming from the screen.

“Let go!” She screamed using her free arm to pull at the other but she stopped cold once he turned to face him and she watched as his eyes glowed red. 

She screamed again as some sort of beast crashed through the movie screen. Looking at it again she noticed that it was a winged horse with a chariot connected at the back of it. A tall guy with dark hair and bright green eyes hopped out of the chariot.

Cassie turned and shared a confused look with her monster date before looking back at the guy.

“Sorry we’re a little late, it’s my turn to do the extractions now since I missed out all those other times,” He said scratching his head as he scanned the scene, “You’re Cassandra Adonis right?”

“Uh… yeah.” Cassie eyed the guy warily, before noticing movement in the chariot beside him, seeing the heads of a guy and another girl pop out.

“You haven’t run into a guy named Leo have you?” The guy said pulling a pen out of his pocket.

“What?” Cassie felt like she hadn’t understood a thing this guy had been talking about since he’d crashed in the movie theater.

“I guess that’s a no.”He said sounding slightly disappointed, before running up and clicking his pen.

Cassie gaped in wonder as it transformed into a sword in a flash. Cassie’s date swiftly released her arm before racing towards the guy too and changing shape into a lizard-like creature.

“Percy Jackson, here to ruin our plans again are you?” A deep gravelly voice erupted from the beast as he faced the guy who Cassie assumed he was addressing to be Percy.

“Yeah pretty much.” He said cracking a smile before running up and slicing the monster clean in half.

Cassie stood in shock as the monster crumbled away and Percy stepped over the ashes, starting towards her.

“Sorry I had to kill your boyfriend, but he was actually a basilisk. It didn’t look like you were having that much fun with him anyway.” He said before laughing at his own joke.

Cassie slowly backed up before speaking up, “Who the hell are you, and how did you do that?”

“Yeah I would love to spell it all out for you now but we’re like three hours behind schedule so I’ll explain to you on the chariot.”

Cassie scoffed, “I’m not getting on that.”

“Well, you could always wait here for more killer boyfriends?” Percy said tilting his head to one side, his eyes glinting in the light.

Cassie crossed her arms and rolled her eyes before reluctantly making her way towards the chariot that lay in the rubble of the front of the theater, careful to step over the dusty remains of Eric/Ernest and not ruin her three-hundred dollar shoes.

Stepping out from the ruined wall, Cassie realized that the chariot was a lot larger than it had looked from a distance. Going for a seat opposite of the other two passengers, she watched as Percy climbed in after her and grabbed the reins of the horse.

“Hi!” The girl in the other seat leaned forward stretching her hand out in a greeting gesture, “I’m Meghan, this is all kind of new to me too.”

She looked about sixteen with short blonde hair and circular glasses, and she was kind of cute but also way too perky for Cassie’s liking.

Cassie looked at her hand before reaching out and shaking it, “I’m Cassie. Is your friend mute?”

The boy visibly tensed up once he realized she was addressing him and stuttered, “I’m Dean.”

Dean looked to be about the same age as Meghan. He was Asian with a buzzcut and unsure look on his face like he wasn’t sure how he had gotten there-which Cassie could completely relate to.

“So basically Percy said that our parents our greek gods and that the safest place to be at is this camp he’s taking up to.” 

“And you believed him?” Cassie said raising an eyebrow.

Meghan seemed unsure of her decision for a second before continuing, “Well-i mean-he saved our lives right?”

Cassie narrowed her eyes, “So what?”

Meghan pulled back and didn’t speak again looking down at the floor. Cassie was a little more than pissed at the series of events that had taken place today. That kid hadn’t even bought her popcorn back at the movie theater. 

A little while later Cassie could practically hear Percy smiling as he yelled back to them from the reins, “Welcome to Camp Half-Blood!”

Cassie peered over the edge of the chariot gazing at open land, sprinkled with trees and hills. She sat back in her seat rolling her eyes at Meghan and Dean’s wonder.

The voices of campers progressively became louder as Percy landed the chariot. He was the first to hop out helping Dean, Meghan, and then Cassie out of the chariot. He handed off the reigns of the pegasus he called Blackjack off to some blonde kid and then led them towards the group of campers pooling at the entrance.

Cassie was startled when a girl walked out of the crowd, up to Percy, and planted a kiss square on his lips. 

“Guy’s this is Annabeth, my girlfriend.”Percy smiled down at her.

“Nice to meet you all.” She turned to Percy, “The new campers have been kind of old lately right, they all look about sixteen.”

As they rambled on Cassie shivered feelings eyes on her from the crowd. She jerked her head to see a tall elfish-looking boy with brown hair and electric blue eyes staring at her. He continued to stare at her, as Percy introduced them and his gaze intensified once he reached Cassie. She glared at him expecting him to look away in fear but her breath caught in her throat when a lopsided grin took over his face. 

Quickly averting her eyes, she only looked up again once the crowd released a collective gasp. Letting out her own gasp she gazed at the glowing symbols above Dean and Meghan’s heads.

Above Meghan’s head was the symbol of a dove surrounded in bright pink light and above Dean’s was a golden shoe with wings pulsing golden light. 

She looked above her own head and sighed rolling her eyes as Meghan jumped over to hug her, “OMG, we have the same sign and Percy said that means were sisters! Well, technically half-sisters since we don’t have the same Dad.”

Cassie tuned her out as a pretty girl with a deep tan and dark brown hair walked up to the two of them, “Hi, I’m Piper, I’m the Aphrodite Cabin counselor and you guys will be staying with us.”

Cassie shot her a bland smile, as her eyes strayed over to where the boy that had been staring at her introduced himself to Dean.

“Hi, I’m Connor, I’ll be your counselor over at Hermes Cabin.” He reached out to shake Dean’s hand, smiling at Cassie the entire time.

Cassie yawned as the sound of screaming filled the movie theater. She was on a movie date with her current boy-toy, Eric or Earnest-or whatever his name was-and they were watching the newest horror blockbuster and she was bored as hell. It seemed like about the right time to break up with this kid. 

He held her hand tightly as yet another dumb girl in the movie walked down a dark staircase to her doom.

Cassie smiled as she thought about how pathetic this guy was. She was the more popular girls at their Lincoln Prep, and all she had to do was speak and guys would throw themselves at her feet to do her bidding. She’d landed herself into trouble several times for this same reason, as her Dad didn’t believe her story of only asking to borrow someone’s private jet. 

“Oh this is my favorite part!” the boy explains his grip tightening even more.

“You’re squeezing the hell out of my hand, can you like let go,” Cassie said trying to yank her hand out of his, but he didn’t let go and his grip became rock-hard.

She was suddenly startled when the volume of the movie increased, making her reach to cover her ear with her free hand as the screams became unbearably loud. The other people in the theater mirrored her movements and started to head for the doors.

Cassie stood up trying to follow suit but realized that Eric(or Everett) was still holding her hand and eagerly watching the movie, unaffected by the ear-bleeding shrieks coming from the screen.

“Let go!” She screamed using her free arm to pull at the other but she stopped cold once he turned to face him and she watched as his eyes glowed red. 

She screamed again as some sort of beast crashed through the movie screen. Looking at it again she noticed that it was a winged horse with a chariot connected at the back of it. A tall guy with dark hair and bright green eyes hopped out of the chariot.

Cassie turned and shared a confused look with her monster date before looking back at the guy.

“Sorry we’re a little late, it’s my turn to do the extractions now since I missed out all those other times,” He said scratching his head as he scanned the scene, “You’re Cassandra Adonis right?”

“Uh… yeah.” Cassie eyed the guy warily, before noticing movement in the chariot beside him, seeing the heads of a guy and another girl pop out.

“You haven’t run into a guy named Leo have you?” The guy said pulling a pen out of his pocket.

“What?” Cassie felt like she hadn’t understood a thing this guy had been talking about since he’d crashed in the movie theater.

“I guess that’s a no.”He said sounding slightly disappointed, before running up and clicking his pen.

Cassie gaped in wonder as it transformed into a sword in a flash. Cassie’s date swiftly released her arm before racing towards the guy too and changing shape into a lizard-like creature.

“Percy Jackson, here to ruin our plans again are you?” A deep gravelly voice erupted from the beast as he faced the guy who Cassie assumed he was addressing to be Percy.

“Yeah pretty much.” He said cracking a smile before running up and slicing the monster clean in half.

Cassie stood in shock as the monster crumbled away and Percy stepped over the ashes, starting towards her.

“Sorry I had to kill your boyfriend, but he was actually a basilisk. It didn’t look like you were having that much fun with him anyway.” He said before laughing at his own joke.

Cassie slowly backed up before speaking up, “Who the hell are you, and how did you do that?”

“Yeah I would love to spell it all out for you now but we’re like three hours behind schedule so I’ll explain to you on the chariot.”

Cassie scoffed, “I’m not getting on that.”

“Well, you could always wait here for more killer boyfriends?” Percy said tilting his head to one side, his eyes glinting in the light.

Cassie crossed her arms and rolled her eyes before reluctantly making her way towards the chariot that lay in the rubble of the front of the theater, careful to step over the dusty remains of Eric/Ernest and not ruin her three-hundred dollar shoes.

Stepping out from the ruined wall, Cassie realized that the chariot was a lot larger than it had looked from a distance. Going for a seat opposite of the other two passengers, she watched as Percy climbed in after her and grabbed the reins of the horse.

“Hi!” The girl in the other seat leaned forward stretching her hand out in a greeting gesture, “I’m Meghan, this is all kind of new to me too.”

She looked about sixteen with short blonde hair and circular glasses, and she was kind of cute but also way too perky for Cassie’s liking.

Cassie looked at her hand before reaching out and shaking it, “I’m Cassie. Is your friend mute?”

The boy visibly tensed up once he realized she was addressing him and stuttered, “I’m Dean.”

Dean looked to be about the same age as Meghan. He was Asian with a buzzcut and unsure look on his face like he wasn’t sure how he had gotten there-which Cassie could completely relate to.

“So basically Percy said that our parents our greek gods and that the safest place to be at is this camp he’s taking up to.” 

“And you believed him?” Cassie said raising an eyebrow.

Meghan seemed unsure of her decision for a second before continuing, “Well-i mean-he saved our lives right?”

Cassie narrowed her eyes, “So what?”

Meghan pulled back and didn’t speak again looking down at the floor. Cassie was a little more than pissed at the series of events that had taken place today. That kid hadn’t even bought her popcorn back at the movie theater. 

A little while later Cassie could practically hear Percy smiling as he yelled back to them from the reins, “Welcome to Camp Half-Blood!”

Cassie peered over the edge of the chariot gazing at open land, sprinkled with trees and hills. She sat back in her seat rolling her eyes at Meghan and Dean’s wonder.

The voices of campers progressively became louder as Percy landed the chariot. He was the first to hop out helping Dean, Meghan, and then Cassie out of the chariot. He handed off the reigns of the pegasus he called Blackjack off to some blonde kid and then led them towards the group of campers pooling at the entrance.

Cassie was startled when a girl walked out of the crowd, up to Percy, and planted a kiss square on his lips. 

“Guy’s this is Annabeth, my girlfriend.”Percy smiled down at her.

“Nice to meet you all.” She turned to Percy, “The new campers have been kind of old lately right, they all look about sixteen.”

As they rambled on Cassie shivered feelings eyes on her from the crowd. She jerked her head to see a tall elfish-looking boy with brown hair and electric blue eyes staring at her. He continued to stare at her, as Percy introduced them and his gaze intensified once he reached Cassie. She glared at him expecting him to look away in fear but her breath caught in her throat when a lopsided grin took over his face. 

Quickly averting her eyes, she only looked up again once the crowd released a collective gasp. Letting out her own gasp she gazed at the glowing symbols above Dean and Meghan’s heads.

Above Meghan’s head was the symbol of a dove surrounded in bright pink light and above Dean’s was a golden shoe with wings pulsing golden light. 

She looked above her own head and sighed rolling her eyes as Meghan jumped over to hug her, “OMG, we have the same sign and Percy said that means were sisters! Well, technically half-sisters since we don’t have the same Dad.”

Cassie tuned her out as a pretty girl with a deep tan and dark brown hair walked up to the two of them, “Hi, I’m Piper, I’m the Aphrodite Cabin counselor and you guys will be staying with us.”

Cassie shot her a bland smile, as her eyes strayed over to where the boy that had been staring at her introduced himself to Dean.

“Hi, I’m Connor, I’ll be your counselor over at Hermes Cabin.” He reached out to shake Dean’s hand, smiling at Cassie the entire time.

Cassie yawned as the sound of screaming filled the movie theater. She was on a movie date with her current boy-toy, Eric or Earnest-or whatever his name was-and they were watching the newest horror blockbuster and she was bored as hell. It seemed like about the right time to break up with this kid. 

He held her hand tightly as yet another dumb girl in the movie walked down a dark staircase to her doom.

Cassie smiled as she thought about how pathetic this guy was. She was the more popular girls at their Lincoln Prep, and all she had to do was speak and guys would throw themselves at her feet to do her bidding. She’d landed herself into trouble several times for this same reason, as her Dad didn’t believe her story of only asking to borrow someone’s private jet. 

“Oh this is my favorite part!” the boy explains his grip tightening even more.

“You’re squeezing the hell out of my hand, can you like let go,” Cassie said trying to yank her hand out of his, but he didn’t let go and his grip became rock-hard.

She was suddenly startled when the volume of the movie increased, making her reach to cover her ear with her free hand as the screams became unbearably loud. The other people in the theater mirrored her movements and started to head for the doors.

Cassie stood up trying to follow suit but realized that Eric(or Everett) was still holding her hand and eagerly watching the movie, unaffected by the ear-bleeding shrieks coming from the screen.

“Let go!” She screamed using her free arm to pull at the other but she stopped cold once he turned to face him and she watched as his eyes glowed red. 

She screamed again as some sort of beast crashed through the movie screen. Looking at it again she noticed that it was a winged horse with a chariot connected at the back of it. A tall guy with dark hair and bright green eyes hopped out of the chariot.

Cassie turned and shared a confused look with her monster date before looking back at the guy.

“Sorry we’re a little late, it’s my turn to do the extractions now since I missed out all those other times,” He said scratching his head as he scanned the scene, “You’re Cassandra Adonis right?”

“Uh… yeah.” Cassie eyed the guy warily, before noticing movement in the chariot beside him, seeing the heads of a guy and another girl pop out.

“You haven’t run into a guy named Leo have you?” The guy said pulling a pen out of his pocket.

“What?” Cassie felt like she hadn’t understood a thing this guy had been talking about since he’d crashed in the movie theater.

“I guess that’s a no.”He said sounding slightly disappointed, before running up and clicking his pen.

Cassie gaped in wonder as it transformed into a sword in a flash. Cassie’s date swiftly released her arm before racing towards the guy too and changing shape into a lizard-like creature.

“Percy Jackson, here to ruin our plans again are you?” A deep gravelly voice erupted from the beast as he faced the guy who Cassie assumed he was addressing to be Percy.

“Yeah pretty much.” He said cracking a smile before running up and slicing the monster clean in half.

Cassie stood in shock as the monster crumbled away and Percy stepped over the ashes, starting towards her.

“Sorry I had to kill your boyfriend, but he was actually a basilisk. It didn’t look like you were having that much fun with him anyway.” He said before laughing at his own joke.

Cassie slowly backed up before speaking up, “Who the hell are you, and how did you do that?”

“Yeah I would love to spell it all out for you now but we’re like three hours behind schedule so I’ll explain to you on the chariot.”

Cassie scoffed, “I’m not getting on that.”

“Well, you could always wait here for more killer boyfriends?” Percy said tilting his head to one side, his eyes glinting in the light.

Cassie crossed her arms and rolled her eyes before reluctantly making her way towards the chariot that lay in the rubble of the front of the theater, careful to step over the dusty remains of Eric/Ernest and not ruin her three-hundred dollar shoes.

Stepping out from the ruined wall, Cassie realized that the chariot was a lot larger than it had looked from a distance. Going for a seat opposite of the other two passengers, she watched as Percy climbed in after her and grabbed the reins of the horse.

“Hi!” The girl in the other seat leaned forward stretching her hand out in a greeting gesture, “I’m Meghan, this is all kind of new to me too.”

She looked about sixteen with short blonde hair and circular glasses, and she was kind of cute but also way too perky for Cassie’s liking.

Cassie looked at her hand before reaching out and shaking it, “I’m Cassie. Is your friend mute?”

The boy visibly tensed up once he realized she was addressing him and stuttered, “I’m Dean.”

Dean looked to be about the same age as Meghan. He was Asian with a buzzcut and unsure look on his face like he wasn’t sure how he had gotten there-which Cassie could completely relate to.

“So basically Percy said that our parents our greek gods and that the safest place to be at is this camp he’s taking up to.” 

“And you believed him?” Cassie said raising an eyebrow.

Meghan seemed unsure of her decision for a second before continuing, “Well-i mean-he saved our lives right?”

Cassie narrowed her eyes, “So what?”

Meghan pulled back and didn’t speak again looking down at the floor. Cassie was a little more than pissed at the series of events that had taken place today. That kid hadn’t even bought her popcorn back at the movie theater. 

A little while later Cassie could practically hear Percy smiling as he yelled back to them from the reins, “Welcome to Camp Half-Blood!”

Cassie peered over the edge of the chariot gazing at open land, sprinkled with trees and hills. She sat back in her seat rolling her eyes at Meghan and Dean’s wonder.

The voices of campers progressively became louder as Percy landed the chariot. He was the first to hop out helping Dean, Meghan, and then Cassie out of the chariot. He handed off the reigns of the pegasus he called Blackjack off to some blonde kid and then led them towards the group of campers pooling at the entrance.

Cassie was startled when a girl walked out of the crowd, up to Percy, and planted a kiss square on his lips. 

“Guy’s this is Annabeth, my girlfriend.”Percy smiled down at her.

“Nice to meet you all.” She turned to Percy, “The new campers have been kind of old lately right, they all look about sixteen.”

As they rambled on Cassie shivered feelings eyes on her from the crowd. She jerked her head to see a tall elfish-looking boy with brown hair and electric blue eyes staring at her. He continued to stare at her, as Percy introduced them and his gaze intensified once he reached Cassie. She glared at him expecting him to look away in fear but her breath caught in her throat when a lopsided grin took over his face. 

Quickly averting her eyes, she only looked up again once the crowd released a collective gasp. Letting out her own gasp she gazed at the glowing symbols above Dean and Meghan’s heads.

Above Meghan’s head was the symbol of a dove surrounded in bright pink light and above Dean’s was a golden shoe with wings pulsing golden light. 

She looked above her own head and sighed rolling her eyes as Meghan jumped over to hug her, “OMG, we have the same sign and Percy said that means were sisters! Well, technically half-sisters since we don’t have the same Dad.”

Cassie tuned her out as a pretty girl with a deep tan and dark brown hair walked up to the two of them, “Hi, I’m Piper, I’m the Aphrodite Cabin counselor and you guys will be staying with us.”

Cassie shot her a bland smile, as her eyes strayed over to where the boy that had been staring at her introduced himself to Dean.

“Hi, I’m Connor, I’ll be your counselor over at Hermes Cabin.” He reached out to shake Dean’s hand, smiling at Cassie the entire time.


	2. Guns n' Roses

Cassie was pissed. 

Well, she was always pissed but now more so than ever before. Meghan was still clinging onto her arm, eyeing the other campers from behind her glasses. Piper had been talking since they’d begun their tour of the camp, but Cassie hadn’t heard a word. Something about that guy made her blood go cold; not like a serial-killer-under-your-bed kind of cold but a good kind. 

“And finally here we are at Aphrodite Cabin,” Piper said enthusiastically as she gestured towards where they would be staying.

“This is so cute!” Meghan jumped up and down taking Cassie’s arm with her as they approached the barbie dream house type structure.

Cassie would never let it show but she was just as excited Meghan was seeing the Cabin. It was like all of her childhood stuffed into one house with its bright pink walls, blue roof, and a pink door, with lace curtains and potted plants around and in the windows. 

Campers stood on each side of the cabin each by a bed as Piper led them inside.

A cute little girl who looked about fourteen years old came running up to them practically shaking with excitement, “Hi I’m Lacey! Wow, you’re so pretty and your hair looks so soft!”

She stuck her hand out reaching for Cassie's hair, gasping in surprise when Cassie grabbed her hand and grit her teeth at her, “Do not touch my hair.”

She shrunk back and headed back for her bed, her smile less certain than before.

“That was a little harsh Cassie, she’s just a kid,” Piper said smiling reassuringly at Lacey.

“I’m sorry, I’m just really sensitive about my hair.” Cassie shot Lacey an apologetic look before Piper continued.

“I mean we all are, it’s what makes us Aphrodite Cabin,” Piper said laughing as she began introducing them to everyone.

“Okay, so Meghan you and Lacey will share a bunk. And Cassie you’ll be sharing with Drew.”

Meghan and Lacey ran and hugged each other, talking so fast and loud that it made Cassie’s head spin.

“Who is Drew?” That name hadn’t been on the list of people they had been introduced to moments before.

“That’s me, and who are you?” A pretty Asian girl said as she walked out of the bathroom.

“Drew this is Cassie, she’s new and the two of you are gonna be sharing a bunk.” Piper sounded like she was trying hard to be nice.

“Well, that’s not gonna work.” She said matter of factly, flipping her black hair over her shoulder.

“And why not?” Piper said, her patience clearly running thin.

“Because my clothes and the rest of my stuff are on the bottom bunk.”

“Then move your shit,” Cassie said, crossing her arms.

“You find somewhere else to sleep!”

“Excuse me?" No one had ever spoken to Cassie like that before and she wasn’t sure what to do.

Piper-who didn’t try to hide her amusement at their confrontation-told Drew to move her stuff and then went to attend to Lacey and Meghan.

Drew huffed as she angrily threw her clothes into her drawer. Cassie rolled her eyes and walked to the bottom bunk pressing out the creases on the bedsheet. 

“Cassie!” Piper yelled out as she tossed her an orange Camp Half-Blood shirt, “Change into this and we’ll find some weapons for you and Meghan to use.”

Catching the shirt, and eyeing it in disgust she walked into the bathroom to change.

Piper, Meghan, and Cassie stood around the weapons gauntlet looking around at the vast spread of firearms, axes, swords, knives, and daggers.

“Just look around and grab anything that speaks out to you.” Piper said, sliding her hair behind her ear, “I found my dagger because I felt like it was speaking to me.”

Piper’s whole personality was very confusing to Cassie because she didn’t act like the other kids of Aphrodite that she’d seen in her three hours at camp. She wasn’t wearing any makeup and her hair looked like she’d cut it with the knife that lay at her waist with her eyes closed. It was like she was trying to make you look away but it had an adverse effect. It instead gave her the look of an effortless beauty and it made Cassie slightly jealous that she could pull it off.

Piper turned around seeing Jason-who she had introduced them to earlier as her boyfriend-hanging around the entrance of the gauntlet and turned towards the two of them, “Hey guys I have to leave but pick whatever you want and head back to the cabin and I’ll meet you there once it’s time for dinner and go over our usual daily schedule with you while we're down there.”

Meghan perkily answered her and hugged her, and Cassie sent her a wave before she went through the door.

As soon as she was sure that Piper was gone, Cassie whipped out her phone and opened her camera app quickly checking her face to make-up wasn't smeared. She pulled a tissue out of the pack in her back pocket and wiped away at her lip gloss. 

“You still have your phone?” Meghan said, staring at the device incredulously.

“Uh, yeah my Dad is gonna wonder where I am when I don’t show up for dinner tonight, so unless this Camp wants the S.W.A.T. team showing up I’ll be keeping this.” She switched it off and stuffed it in her pocket.

She knew her father wouldn’t call looking for her anytime soon. He was on some business trip in Manila and would only be back God knows when. But it felt good to imagine that he would one day think of her and pick up his phone to call her, even if it was wishful thinking. Turning her attention back to the weapons, she tried to distract herself by reminiscing on Piper’s words.

Just look around and grab anything that speaks out to you

“Cassie check me out!”

Cassie turned around to see Meghan holding a huge military grade rifle and busted out laughing with her.

“What the hell is that?” She says in between laughs.

“It says here that it’s an M16 rifle,” She said reading the inscription underneath the place holder, “But it doesn’t say that it’s heavy as hell.”

Cassie laughed again before something glinted in the light catching her attention. Two old-fashioned shotguns sat in a placeholder by the M16. She reached out and picked them up, turning them around and inspecting them. They were wooden and silver, with a rose symbol carved on either side of them. 

She held them out in front of her feeling a strange rush ride through her as she did. 

“Wow,” Meghan said running to her side, “You look like someone out of an Indiana Jones movie!”

“I know right!” She said excitedly, mimicking fighter poses, and making Meghan laugh.

She hadn’t been able to let loose like this in a while and it honestly felt really good. 

A couple of minutes later, she and Meghan exited the gauntlet with their new weapons in hand. Meghan had ditched the rifle for a Japanese short sword called a Tanto. Cassie had tucked her rifle into holsters on either side of her hip and slung her arm around Meghan as they headed back towards Aphrodite Cabin.

“Sorry I was being such a bitch earlier,” She said solemnly, “I’m not usually like that, I promise. I just don’t really like sudden change.”

“It’s okay,” Meghan said leaning into her, “I can understand that.”

“Yeah, the only people deserving of my bitchiness are boys...mostly because they suck.”

“Well, I wouldn’t know. I’ve never had a boyfriend.”

“Oh my god, you’re lying!”

Meghan shook her head and sighed, “Nope. Not one.”

“Well you don’t need one, they’re full of shit!” 

Meghan chuckled as they continued along their path. As they passed a fountain that Piper had called the newly repaired Poseidon’s fountain, Cassie furrowed her eyebrows as she heard what sounded like bubbling water.

Turning back towards the fountain, she screamed as a stream of water came barreling towards her and Meghan.


	3. The Waves Come Crashing Down

Cassie stood up, fuming as she swiped her sopping wet hair out of her face.

“What the hell!” She reached down to help Meghan up from where they had both been knocked over, her glasses were strewn across the grass, one of the lenses cracked.

As soon as the two of them had regained their bearings, another torrent of water knocked them right back over. 

Campers that were passing by stopped to chuckle as they once again struggled against the waves. Cassie was up in an instant, her eyes blazing as she looked for the culprit and she caught a glimpse of a cheshire grin from behind the fountain.

Connor Stoll walked out from behind the fountain, his laugh ringing louder than all the others around them as he picked what looked like a couple of gadgets that he had probably stolen from the Hephaestus cabin.

“What the hell is wrong with you!” She screamed as she reached for her hair, “My hair is ruined, my make-up is dripping… no not my phone!”

Cassie was ready to cry when she pulled her phone out and the screen did not respond as she pressed the button.

Cassie couldn’t describe the anger that rose in her as she ran for the laughing prankster, who didn’t notice her barreling towards him. On her way over she slipped in a puddle of water that sent both her and him flying into the fountain.

Connor came up from under the freezing fountain water sputtering and flailing around. Cassie reached out, feeling for a ledge to pull herself up with, grateful when her hand caught a stone edge. Pulling herself out of the fountain she stood over Connor, who had also steadied himself, and shoved him back down and turned around to see Chiron surveying the scene with a stern expression. Campers stood crowded around him, some laughing and some with unsure expressions on their faces.

Cassie froze, her jaw falling open and Connor slipped out of the fountain with an expression that matched hers.

Chiron stared at the two of them silently for a moment before speaking, “I would like to see the two of you in the Big House immediately.”

Cassie had no idea where the Big House was… mostly because she had zoned out during that part of the tour. Connor however, seemed to know it well as he started trudging along a path towards the woods. Cassie waited until he had walked a certain distance before following after him, her arms crossed as she shivered from the cool water that clung to her clothes.

***

Cassie sat in one of the chairs across from Chiron’s desk, her eyes wandering as she inspected the strange room. The orientation film that she had seen earlier played silently in the background as they waited for Chiron to arrive.

“That was fun.” 

Cassie snapped her head around the sound of Connor’s voice and raised an eyebrow, “What?”

“That was the most fun I’ve had in a while,” He said, his trademark grin slowly appearing on his face, “On another note, your phone is trashed.”

Cassie gasped at the sight of her phone dangling in between his fingers. It took all the self-control that Cassie had to not reach over and throttle him, as he sat in the seat next to her chuckling. She snatched her phone from his grasp and slid her seat another foot away from his.

“You know with your makeup all runny like that, you kinda look like you would fit in at a circus.” His chuckle turned into a full-blown laugh.

Cassie’s fist flew before she could stop herself. Connor looked surprised as her knuckles headed for his jaw until they were apprehended by a hand. They both looked up to see Chiron standing above them, seemingly ten-times more peeved than he had been earlier.

Cassie pulled her hands into her lap and kept her head down and Chiron walked around the two of them to take his seat. 

“I’m very disappointed in the two of you for the scene you caused earlier, especially you Connor. After Travis went off to school, I was hoping that it would be the end of these pranks but it's clear that I was wrong. You are filling his position and this is not the way a camp counselor should behave. You should be setting a better example for both your cabin and other cabins alike.”

Cassie smiled as Chiron grilled Connor, satisfied that justice was finally being served. 

“And Cassandra, although you are a new camper, you heard the rules earlier today and know that fighting outside of training is unacceptable.”Chiron's forehead creased as he stared at her.

“I was minding my own business, and I didn’t mean to hit him. I just kinda slipped!” Cassie yelled in outrage.

Connor scoffed, “You slipped? That’s a load of bull-”

“That’s enough!” Chiron’s fist slammed into his table making the two of them jump, “Whatever the case may be, you are both in the wrong, and you will both be cleaning the Pegasus stables every day for the next two weeks.”

“What?” The two of them yelled in unison.

Cassie put her hands up defensively, “I’m sorry but manual labor makes me break out!” 

“I’m sure it does, Princess,” Connor said sarcastically.

“You can suck-”

Chiron interrupted the two of them yet again, his voice so calm that it scared the words out of Cassie’s mouth, “This is not up for debate. Tomorrow during your free choice period, you will both meet Katie Gardner at the stables where she will show you how to clean them.”

“Ugh, not her,” Connor said rubbing his temples in annoyance.

“Now goodnight and I will see the two of you during archery practice tomorrow.”

Fuming with anger, Cassie shot out of her seat and through the door of Chiron’s office. She could hear Connor’s footsteps behind her as she stormed out onto the deck of the Big House and stopped, waiting for him.

He slunk onto the deck with his hands in his pockets whistling an unfamiliar tune. 

“This is all your fault!” She said jabbing her finger in his face.

“This is my fault? I didn’t come running at you like a defensive lineman!” He shot back.

Cassie froze for a second before whipping around letting out a groan of frustration.

“But I get it. You wanted to get close to me, and I can’t blame you for it.”He said snarkily

“You must be out of your mind to even think I would go for a twerp like you, I’ve gone out with guys twice your size.” She said before strutting off towards her cabin, satisfied that she had gotten the last word. 

***

Later after she had changed and barely made it to the Dining Pavilion before dinner ended, Cassie lay across Meghan's bed frustrated.

“So do you have to like, clean the Pegasus poop?” Meghan asked with a disgusted expression on her face.

Cassie nodded, “Yes, for two whole weeks.”

One of her cabin-mates, Mitchell, scrunched his nose, “It’s kind of strange that Connor targeted you on your first day here. He hasn’t pranked anyone since his brother left camp at the beginning of summer, and he doesn’t usually prank anyone without a motive.”

Cassie rolled over and groaned into the bed.

“Maybe he likes you?” An unsure voice whispered in the background.

Cassie peeled her head off of the bed and turned around to face Lacey, whose hands were behind her back as she rocked from one foot to another. Mitchell, Meghan, and a couple more of their cabinmates looked at Lacey, wondering if what she said could be true.

“As if.” Drew’s scoff pierced through the silent cabin, as she stared into her mirror, primping her hair, “You looked like a raccoon with all that runny mascara. What guy would go for that.”

Cassie opened her mouth ready to fight back but decided against it. She didn’t even have the energy to waste time arguing with Drew. She slid off of Meghan’s bed, as Piper had just come in to announce lights out, and right into her own. The cabin quickly became quiet as her half-brothers and sisters valued their beauty sleep above all else. Soon she too joined them, the worry lines that once inhabited her face smoothed out.


	4. Ready, Aim, Shoot

The next morning Cassie stood in line at Archery Practice waiting for someone from the Apollo Cabin to hand her a bow and quiver full of arrows. Meghan and Lacy stood arm-in-arm in front of her, having a friendly argument about whether the Ares or Hermes cabin had cuter guys.

The discussion had begun in Sword and Shield practice with the Ares cabin earlier that morning when Sherman Yang, the Ares cabin counselor, had expertly beaten Cecil Markowitz from Hermes cabin while they were sparring. Even Cassie had to admit that it had been kind of hot. Speaking of hot it must’ve been at least ninety-degrees out today and the sun was beating down on them. Sweat and Aphrodite kids didn’t mix very well, so Cassie quickly collected a bow and quiver from Will and scurried over to the shade under a pine tree where the other members of her cabin were finding shelter from the sweltering heat.

Chiron rode into the center of the archery field with his own bow and arrows in tow and the campers stood, ready for the lesson to begin. 

While he began to demonstrate the proper way to hold up the arrow to the bow, Cassie started to remember the events of last night and mentally face-palmed. As if being hosed down in front of a cluster of campers wasn’t embarrassing enough, they know all knew she was on poop-scoop duty. It had taken both Meghan and Lacey threatening to burn her clothes in greek fire to get her out of the Aphrodite cabin this morning.

In order to avoid any accidents that involved making her liquid eyeliner drip down her face she’d opted for a more minimal make-up today, and she was grateful for it now seeing as the sun was making a personal attack in the clearing.

The sound of an arrow hitting a target snapped Cassie back to the present, and she looked around to see that the other campers had already begun practicing with their own targets. Heading over to where Meghan and Lacey were practicing she noticed that it was only two to a target and the only open spot was with Drew.

Sighing loudly she pivoted over to where Drew was applying a fresh coat of pink nail polish, “Are you even practicing?”

Drew shot her a glare, “I don’t want to end up smelling like a wet dog just because I have to shoot some darts.”

Cassie couldn’t help herself and laughed out loud before stepping in front of the target. Reaching down to pull an arrow out of the quiver she had set on the ground in front of her, she realized that she hadn’t paid attention to Chiron’s lesson at all. 

Well I’m gonna have to figure it out, she thought as she tried to put the arrow onto the bow like the way she’d seen Tristan McLean do in that one action movie.

Thirty minutes and hundreds of failed attempts later, Cassie was just about over archery. She could feel beads of sweat forming on her forehead, which were a tell-tale sign that her participation was done(a belief which she regularly applied in her gym class back at Lincoln High.)

She threw the bow in frustration and was about to head back under the security of the shade when she heard chuckling behind her and turned to see a camper walking towards her. He was tall, with a blonde crew cut and sharp hazel eyes. She recognized him from the Ares cabin but couldn’t tell what his name was.

“You threw that bow like it was on fire! What happened?” He said chuckling as he jogged over to pick it up.

Cassie’s built-in charm kicked in as her eyes immediately widened and her fingers reached up to twirl a lock of her dark hair, “I can’t seem to figure out this whole archery thing.”

“Well let’s see if I can help that.” He said smiling a wide toothy smile that almost made Cassie gush out loud.

He bent down to grab the bow from where she had thrown it and handed it to her, adjusting the placement of it in her left hand. Then he picked up an arrow and put it in Cassie’s hand, keeping his hand on hers to help her draw the arrow. Being so close to him, Cassie caught the scent of pine needles and cologne, a strange mix that was having an ungodly effect on her as she blushed. He moved to stand behind her and began to aim for the target. Then in a flash, he let go, and Cassie watched in amazement as the arrow cut through the air and soared right into the bulls-eye.

“Oh, my gods!” Cassie jumped in excitement as the camper began to laugh again behind her.

“See, it wasn’t that hard was it?”

“Not at all, I might actually be good at something!”

He smiled that toothy smile again before seemingly realizing something, “Oh I never even introduced myself! You probably think I’m some sort of creep by now, but I’m Ellis.”

“I’m Cassie, I’m new here. It’s why I honestly still don’t get any of this.”

“You’ll get the hang of it. I had the same problem when I first got here but now this place feels like a second home.” After he spoke he leaned his head back as a breeze passed through the clearing.

Cassie stood in awe as the wind passed through his hair and camp half-blood shirt, giving her a quick glimpse of his muscles-probably earned from the years of jousting in the Ares cabin-making the blush on her face even redder.

The sharp sound of a whistle cut through the air, alerting campers that it was time to move onto the next activity which was Winged Horseback Riding with the Demeter cabin.

Both Ellis and Cassie turned when Sherman Lang called him to meet back up with the rest of his cabin mates.

“Well, I’ll definitely be seeing you around Cassie. It’s hard to miss a pretty face like yours.” He said winking before jogging off.

The breath that Cassie had been holding for the five minutes let out of her like a popped balloon. She’d pulled that off pretty well if she said so herself. That flirting approach was what she called her “shy/apprehensive girl” approach and it usually worked pretty well for the jock type. It seemed like it would be interesting to get to know Ellis. He seemed very straightforward but had a mysterious element about him that it took a trained eye to see.

“Can you hurry up, my hair is starting to frizz!” Drew wailed making Cassie run over to return her bow and arrow to Will Solace before speedwalking to catch up with the rest of her cabinmates.

In her haste, she didn’t notice the eyes that had been following her since her conversation with Ellis. Connor narrowed his eyes in annoyance and turned to leave with the rest of the Hermes cabin.

***

The whistle signaling that free period had begun had just been blown about five minutes ago and Cassie was now sulking as she headed for the pegasus stables. 

She’d been watching the clock tick and dreading every second that she got closer to her punishment. It had made her so distracted that she’d almost fallen off of a pegasus during Winged Horseback practice an hour earlier. 

When she arrived at the stables, Connor and a girl with big doe-like eyes were waiting for her.

“Hi, you must be Cassandra, I’m Katie.” She said in a tone that wasn’t exactly rude but wasn’t exactly nice either. Motherly. That was how she’d describe it. Motherly.

“Nice to meet you.”

“I’m assuming you’ve had the pleasure of meeting Connor?”

Cassie’s eyes slit as she glared over to Connor who smiled mischievously back at her, “I wouldn’t call it a pleasurable experience.”

“Me either.” She cast a look of vague annoyance towards Connor before turning and pushing open the doors to the stables.

They started inside and Cassi observed the pegasi in their stalls before covering her nose and running out the door, Connor not far behind her.

“What is that smell?” Cassie said, trying to keep her breakfast in her stomach.

“It’s manure.” Katie said matter-of-factly, “You guys are gonna scoop it into those wagons over there, so the Demeter cabin can use it for fertilizer.”

“So basically we're doing your dirty work for you,” Connor sneered through the fingers that covered his mouth and nose.

“Exactly.” The gleam in Katie’s eyes was positively sinister as she stared him down.

Cassie wanted to cry. This was against everything she stood for… which wasn’t much, but it was against it. She could almost imagine Aphrodite peering down on her and shaking her head at the situation her daughter had gotten tangled up in.

“Oh my gods, I think I’m gonna be sick. Are you sure I can’t do something else, like organize your closet based on the color and price?”

Katie squinted her eyes and gestured at her shirt, making Cassie realize that her “closet” probably only consisted of different variations of the Camp Half-Blood shirt.

Connor, who had resorted to using his shirt as a mask, chuckled at Cassie before facing Katie, “I really don’t like you.” 

“That doesn’t change you being on poop-scoop duty. Think of this as payback for the chocolate-bunny-on-the-roof incident.”

“You’ve paid us back for that like ten times! And Travis isn’t even here!”

Cassie had noted that it was the second time she’d heard that name. And judging by the fact that people only said it around Connor, she assumed that it was his brother. 

“Hey I don’t choose the punishments, I only benefit from them,” Katie said, chuckling as she walked away.

The two of them watched Katie leave, before Cassie whipped around to face Connor, “This is all your fault!”

He rolled his eyes and blew his hair out of his eyes, “Yeah we discussed this yesterday.”

Cassie was so angry that she couldn’t even manage to speak. She turned to face him, at the same time he turned towards her to see her reaction. Their noses brushed ever so slightly, making Cassie bolt back, and trip over a bucket.

She groaned, rubbing her back as she got up to see Connor who had landed in a chariot with a blush matching hers.

Turning before he could see hers, she sprinted back into stables and grabbed a shovel before pinching her nose and walking into a stall.


	5. A Tempting Offer

At this point, the only thing that mattered to Cassie was staying alive.

The overwhelming smell of the stables had threatened to take her at least five times now. She hadn’t even finished cleaning one stall yet but was ready to quit.

Suddenly becoming suspicious of Connor's progress she slid to the edge of the stall, sliding around the large mare that was currently gnawing through a bale of hay, and stuck her head out.

She gasped when she saw that he had already cleaned and scooped four stalls in the hour that they had been there. She scoffed, and he must’ve heard her because he turned around and sent her a sly smile.

“You haven’t even cleaned one stall up yet? You’re gonna be here all day.”

“How the hell are you cleaning them so fast?” Cassie said, deciding to ignore his jab. 

“This isn’t my first rodeo, Princess.” He turned around to face her as he swept the hay towards the pile in the corner.

“Okay, first of all, my name is Cassie,” She said, blowing her hair out of her eyes, “And what do you usually go around terrorizing all the girls at camp?”

He stopped sweeping to look at her, “Nope, just the pretty ones.”

Cassie stood completely still, unsure of how to proceed. This kind of thing didn’t usually happen to her unless…no there was no way that she could already like Connor. It had only been like two days. She had always had a thing for bad boys though. 

Did Connor count as a bad boy though? He sure didn’t look like any of the guy's Cassie had dated in the past. They were more akin to Ellis or someone like Jason. Either way, she wasn’t about to be left blubbering like some antisocial band girl by some skinny kid.

“So you think Katie is pretty then? Prettier than me?” She said, raising an eyebrow and jutting out her hip, her hair cascading down her back as she did her signature smolder. 

Damn, I’m good, Cassie thought as Connor looked in surprise at her question.

“Well…”

“So you do think she’s prettier than me,” Cassie said, raising an eyebrow.

“No, you’re way hotter than Katie!” Connor said, his face quickly becoming red, “Travis is the one that likes Katie.”

He quickly turned around as the blush began to spread to his neck. Cassie smirked before dropping the mop in her hand and sauntering over to the stall he was cleaning, leaning over the door.

“I’m sorry, what was that?”

He froze in place realizing how close she was to him. 

“I didn’t say anything.”

“Uh…yes you did.”

“No, I didn’t?”

“Well, I’m sure Katie will be glad to know that little tidbit of information about your brother, don’t you think so?” Cassie smirk grew wider.

“You wouldn’t!”

“Oh, I would trust me.”

“Travis would kill me.”

Cassie shrugged, “That’s not my problem, is it?”

Connor glared at her for a couple of moments before mumbling under his breath, “I think you’re hot.”

Cassie couldn’t stop grinning; she had to admit that she was having fun here, “What? I’m so sorry I seem to be hard of hearing right now.”

“I think you’re hot, okay?” He exclaimed, becoming even redder than before.

“Aw, thanks Connor, that’s super sweet!” Cassie gushed in fake appreciation, “I think you are extremely annoying.”

“Whatever.”

Cassie was relishing every moment of Connor’s embarrassment, glad that she was finally able to get one-up on him. Lacey-as crazy as her theory had sounded-had been right. Even though his methods had been extremely twisted, all along he’d probably been trying to get her attention. Now that she thought about it, it was actually kind of sweet.

Connor, who had noticed that Cassie wasn’t speaking, turned around in confusion to see her staring at him. He stared back at her. Seeing him close up, Cassie realized that Connor was attractive in an elfish kind of way with his thin and pale features. His innocent eyes were a shade of blue that reminded her of the morning sky and gave the impression that he was reserved which was far from the truth.

The sound of someone loudly clearing their throat sent the two of them into casual positions, with Connor back to sweeping and Cassie casually leaning against the gate stall.

Piper and Drew watched the two of them pensively as they stood at the entrance of the stables.

“Um, Cassie we came to check up on you and make sure you were okay since it’s only your second-”

“But you’re clearly doing just fine,” Drew snapped, letting Cassie know that Piper had probably made her come, “What the hell have you guys been doing? It smells like shit in here.”

“Drew!” Piper glared at her sternly before looking apologetically at Cassie, “We’ll see you at dinner.”

They left just as quickly as they had come and Cassie heaved out a sigh falling against the hard surface behind her.

She peeled herself off of the gate, and headed back to complete her own manual labor, but not without shooting a glare towards Connor. The cat was out of the bag about him liking her, but she wasn’t about to let him think she liked him. Sure, he was cute, but he also managed to get just far enough under her skin that it made her want to explode.

***

Cassie clasped her fingers to her knees as she heard the whistle for the end of free period. She was covered in sweat and all she wanted to do was take a shower and hide until she could look presentable again.

She threw the last bale of hay into the pen of pegasus that she had been grooming and headed for the doors to the stable. 

“Hey wait!”

Cassie raised an eyebrow and looked back at Connor, who had grasped her wrist as she walked past.

“What klepto?”

“Oh, I get a nickname now too? That's sick!” He said, smirking at her.

Cassie snatched her wrist away, “Okay, I'm leaving.”

“Okay, okay, just hear me out.” Connor held his hands out willing her to stop, “How would you like to get out of camp for a night?”

Cassie’s other eyebrow raised as her heart skipped a beat. It had only been two days since she’d been at camp, and she hadn’t mentioned it but it had been suffocating. She wasn’t used to being stuck in one spot for such a long time. Given that her Dad was away on business trips for nine out of the twelve months of the year, she was home alone most of the time. So she’d made every attempt not to be at home too; whether it meant sleeping over at another girls house every night and spending the days at the mall.

“I’m in.”

“Come on, it’ll be- wait what? Just like that?”

“I’m tired of being stuck here. I mean it’s fun and all but not when we're stuck here every day.”

Connor still looked surprised that she had agreed but continued, “Okay, then meet me at the big house after lights out.”

He spun around without another word and tore through the doors on the other side of the stables, most likely off to start trouble. 

She pushed the doors open and headed for Aphrodite cabin, ready to clean herself up.

***

Thirty minutes later, Cassie sat squished in between Drew and Meghan at their table, annoyed at how close they were to her. Piper was excitedly chatting with Mitchell about the upcoming capture the flag game, while Drew complained about the carbs in the food the same way she had done the day before.

“I have to admit that I'm a little worried, the last couple of games have been getting a little too hardcore, even for me!”

Cassie laughed along with Mitchell, “With the way you were cutting up in sword practice earlier, I think you’ll be fine.”

“Yeah, and her boyfriend will probably be protecting her the whole time too.” Drew mumbled not too quietly, as she dropped her fork.

Cassie gasped and reached to cover her hand with her mouth as a chorus of oooh’s passed through the entire Aphrodite cabin’s table. 

Saying Piper looked like she wanted to kill someone would’ve been a hilarious understatement. 

“I’ve always fought on my own during every capture the flag battle, Drew. I don’t need anyone to fight for me!”

Drew grinned, happy to have finally gotten a reaction out of Piper, “Except for the fact that he practically saved you from being gutted last time.”

Piper looked like she was about to jump across the table and strangle Drew, so Cassie decided to interject and do damage control.

“Speaking of, Jason, how are things between the two of you?”

Piper turned to Cassie, with any signs of past annoyance gone as she smiled, “We’ve been good actually! We were just discussing what’s gonna happen at the end of the summer and we don’t have any definite plans yet so we decided we were gonna wait till we get there.”

“That’s sweet! I like that you guys communicate with each other.” Cassie said, ignoring Drew’s eye roll.

“What about you? You’ve only been here like two days and you already have two guys feening for your attention.” Piper's smile grew even more as she spoke.

“What?” Cassie knew she was talking about Connor, but wasn’t sure who this other guy was supposed to be.

“Don’t play dumb, we saw you cozying up with Ellis Wakefield earlier, it was so cute!” Lacey gushed next to her.

“Okay, you guys are just being extra. He was only helping me get the hang of archery, that’s it. And Connor is literally a bug, don’t get me started on him!” Cassie said matter-of-a-factly, waving her finger in the air to calm Lacey down.

“So you mean you’re not even interested in one of them?” Mitchell said, strangely looking concerned for her.

“I mean Ellis is cute or whatever but he seems like the type that would only like shy and cute girls, which I am not, and I wouldn’t be able to pretend to be like that forever.”

“Ellis is cute.” Drew agreed dreamily.

The table suddenly went silent as they collectively eyed Drew.

Drew realizing that everyone was watching her, quickly regained her composure and threw her hair over her shoulder, “I don’t think he would waste his time with you, when he could have all of this.”

Cassie had to cover her mouth again to keep herself from laughing out loud. If someone at this camp had an issue with their reality, it was Drew. The girl was full of shit and Cassie had realized it just a day into meeting her.

Cassie turned around in her seat, looking towards the Ares table where Ellis was playfully joking around with a smaller camper at his table. He laughed out and looked in her direction, catching her eye and grinning widely at her. Cassie smiled back and waved, before spinning back around to face her food.

“And he doesn’t like you...right?” Mitchell said, his eyebrow raised.

Cassie didn’t answer and kept staring at her food, biting her lip.

***

It was about an hour after lights out and Cassie had just snuck out of the Aphrodite cabin. She’d spent thirty minutes of that hour after figuring out what to wear. She’d already decided that her outfit should be all black, but couldn’t pick between her leather jacket and her fluffy sweatshirt. In the end, she’d caved on the leather jacket and worn black leggings and a pair of designer cargo boots she’d gotten just a day before getting kidnapped by Percy.

She’d had to take extra care not to wake Drew, who was snoring rather unattractively on the top bunk and tiptoe past her brother and sisters in her socks to successfully make it out of the brightly colored cabin.

The second she made it out the door, she scurried for the Big House, making sure to avoid taking the fire lit route, in case any cabin counselors were coming back late.

She could see Connor's lanky figure in the distance, standing by a large van behind the house. By the time she reached him, he had already gotten the car running and was lounging comfortably in the front seat.

“Isn’t Chiron gonna see us?” Cassie hissed, looking up at the Big house and wishing she’d brought a hat.

“Relax, he’s still at the Dining Pavilion with Mr. D.” He said running his hands through his hair, “Now are you getting in or not?”

“I’m coming!” Cassie quickly raced around to the passenger door, eager to be free of the camp for a couple of hours. 

As soon as she had her seat belt on and settled into the seat, she turned to see Connor mischievously grinning at her. 

“What?” Cassie snapped, looking around the van for any signs of a prank.

Connor said nothing and put the car into gear before stomping on the gas pedal and launching them into the woods.

Cassie screamed, terrified by the speed that the van was going as it crumpled fallen tree branches and what she was hoping weren’t woodland animals under its huge tires.

“Do you even know how to drive?” Cassie exclaimed as she held gripped onto the seat, her knuckles white.

Connor’s grin widened as he answered, “Nope.”

His laugh drowned out Cassie's scream as they tore into the night.


	6. A Night Out

Cassie sat with her head leaning against the window as they cruised along the dimly lit road. Once they’d reached the backroads, Connor’s driving had become much less life-threatening.

“We’re almost there, it’s just down the road,” Connor said turning over to her, a tuft of his dusky hair falling in front of his eyes.

“You still haven’t told me where we’re going,” Cassie said, lifting her head up. “If you were gonna murder me in the woods you could’ve just said so and I still would’ve come.”

Connor laughed loudly, his eyes crinkling in an expression that stirred Cassie inside. She couldn’t tell if she was extremely nervous or extremely pissed and that was incredibly unsettling for her.

She quickly turned back to face the window, watching the road railings blur as they continued to speed down the road until a bright light caught her eye. Squinting she could make out a sign in the distance but couldn’t tell what it said.

Once they had pulled up to the building, Cassie scoffed at the sight of the dilapidated structure. 

“A Quik-Mart? You have got to be joking right now.” Her eyebrows arched as she could feel the annoyance building up in her.

“Don’t knock it before you see the inside,” Connor said with a smirk before hopping out of the van.

Cassie shot him a suspicious look from the passenger seat to which he responded by gesturing for her to get out of the van. Rolling her eyes, she reluctantly pushed the car door open and slid out before meeting him in front of the mart.

Still donning his ever-present grin Connor pulled the door to the Quik-Mart open and held it for her. 

“Ladies first.”

“Oh look, the thief has manners.”

Connor mocked a bow, and Cassie had to clench her jaw hard and not give him the satisfaction of a laugh as she strutted past him into the cruddy store. She scanned the place as she walked in and scrunched her nose at the dingy smell of the inside.

The walls were gray and peeling and the light fixture above them flickered with the occasional spark flying out of it.

Leaning against the front counter, was a lanky guy with shaggy blonde hair and a faded red uniform. He perked up as soon as he noticed them, his eyes resting on Connor for a moment before seeing Cassie. He shot her a smile that seemed like it was meant to be flirtatious but came across as constipated.

“My boy Connor!” He exclaimed, still working his sickly grin, “It’s been a minute dude. And who is this beautiful lady?”

“Hey, Ty. This is-”

“Cassie.” She deadpanned, hoping it would convey her disinterest well enough.

“Beautiful name for a beautiful girl.” Ty winked at her, “I’m Tyler, people call me Ty. But you can call me whatever you want.”

Rolling her eyes, she noticed Connor making a cut-it-out motion with his hand.

“Oh oh she’s your-” 

“Uh Ty, just show us the back.” Connor interrupted practically shooting darts at Ty with his eyes.

Cassie's eyebrows furrowed in confusion, “What's the back?”

Connor looked at her, the excitement in his face obvious as he gestured for her to follow him as Ty pulled back a pair of curtains, revealing a brightly lit arcade behind them.

The first thing to surprise Cassie was that other people were there. Teenagers were clustered at the tables that lay in the center of the arcade, some just loitering around and some raiding the pizza boxes by the tables.

“What is this?” She asked in amazement.

Connor, who looked pleased that he had managed to surprise her, grabbed her wrist and pulled her into the room, “It’s an arcade duh.”

She got a closer look at all the games, as he dragged her through the room and the look of awe she’d had was now basically glued on her face.

She didn’t think she’d ever been on a date in an arcade before. Cassie suddenly stopped and her hand slipped out of Connor’s.

He asked me if I wanted to leave Camp with and didn’t ask anyone else? Cassie thought to herself as she stood in place. The kid probably thought he’d snuck her out on a date without her even noticing. She had to give it to him, no one had ever gone this route to get a date with her before.

“Yo, you coming?” Connor yelled at her as he leaned against a basketball shooting game, the orange and blue lights painting the side of his face.

She scoffed and marched over to him ready to give him hell for trying to pull a fast one on her, but something stopped her from cursing him out. She wasn’t sure if it was the way his eyes widened at how close she was to him, or the slow smile that made its way onto his face that stopped her in her tracks. Time felt like it had slowed down and Cassie silently cursed herself, she’d never been on the receiving end of a feeling like this and it was annoying.

“What?” Connor brows furrowed together in a look of confusion.

“Uh, nothing, what should we try first?”

The smile returned to his face as he scanned the room before grabbing her wrist again and directing her to a Jurassic Park style shooting game, called Pterosaur.

“This is one of my favorites and it’s pretty simple, you just shoot at the dinosaurs and try to make it to the treasure at the end of the game.” 

“Yeah, it sounds simple enough,” Cassie said picking up one of the two rifles connected to the game.

“Oh don’t get too cocky, Princess, we wouldn’t want to break a nail now would we?” Connor mocked as he picked up the second gun and reached into his pocket to two coins into the game.

“Just start the game klepto.” 

He chuckled as he pressed the start button launching them into the prehistoric jungle setting of the game.

Cassie got to work right away, a bloodthirsty look in her eyes as she blasted the heads off of a group of triceratops stampeding towards the screen. Connors rifle moved erratically as he shot towards every corner of the screen.

Five minutes later they had made it to the last boss in the game and were in front of the temple.

“Holy shit, I’ve never gotten this far before!” Connor gushed in excitement, as he bounced from toe to toe waiting for their battle to start.

“That’s because you never played with me,” Cassie said cracking her neck on both sides and stretching out her arms.

A small crowd had gathered behind them since apparently no one had ever made it past the third level since the game had been added. 

“Hell yeah, you’re badass!” He said staring at her with a look of admiration on his face.

“Well, at least you know now.” She said, flipping her over one shoulder before tightly gripping her gun as the bell on the game rang, beginning the final round.

The two of them immediately began firing, and the crowd around them inched closer, all of them eager to get a closer look. Cassie's smile grew as the crowd started to cheer for them as they plowed their way through the temple. She’d never had this much fun at an arcade before… but then again she hadn’t been in one since she was a child.

“Ok, Princess, when I say three you shoot like crazy at the T-Rex, got it?”

“Loud and clear.”

“One… two… three!”

Cassie stepped back as she aimed her gun at the screen and pulled the trigger so hard that it made her finger hurt. Connor mimicked her stance, jerking the rifle like it was a real one. They froze when the T-Rex fell and the game's screen went white before the word CHAMPIONS was written in all caps across the screen.

“Yes!” Cassie jumped up as the crowd behind them cheered and clapped. 

Connor, who was freaking out beside her turned towards her and looked her in the eye with admiration. Cassie stared back and once again timed seemed to stop, as the golden light emitting from the game created the illusion of a halo around his head.

She was shaken out when the crowd rushed them, and she was caught in a shower of high fives, and fist bumps. She lost eye contact for a moment in the chaos, but when she was able to break free, she turned to see him biting his lip as he stared at her.


	7. Caught Red-Handed

The next morning Cassie’s mind began to wander off as she sparred with Meghan by the Ares Cabin. They were supposed to be learning how to parry but she couldn’t get how Connor had looked at her the night before out of her head.

“Okay, what’s got you so distracted?” Meghan said letting the tip of her sword hit the grass below them.

Cassie blinked, seeing Meghan’s confused expression, “Huh?”

“Yesterday it seemed like you were about to skewer me in sword practice, but today you haven’t been paying attention at all and I almost put this sword through you like twelve times.”

“It’s nothing, let's try again,” Cassie said, pushing the thoughts away from her mind as she picked up her sword.

It looked like Connor had wanted to kiss her that night and it made sense to her because she knew she was really pretty. What didn’t make sense was how she felt about him. She couldn’t tell if she extremely liked or extremely hated him. It always seemed like she was on either side and never in the middle.

She lunged forward, aiming to knock Meghan’s sword out of her hands, but Meghan had learned how to parry in the twenty minutes that Cassie had been tuning out. Cassie’s sword flew out of her hand and stuck into the ground behind her, almost stabbing Ellis in the foot.

“Whoa!” He yelled as he jumped back, “Do you usually make it a point to throw weapons?”

“Oh my gods, I’m so sorry!” Cassie scrambled over to him and tried to pry the blade out of the ground, but it wouldn’t budge.

“Let me try.” He said, waiting for her to step back before using his right hand to slide it out of the ground with ease.

Cassie smiled as she took her sword back from him.

“So how are you guys over here? Are you getting all the maneuvers right?”

“Cassie is having a little trouble,” Meghan said with an uncharacteristically sly smirk on her face.

“Oh really? With which part?” Ellis said with a genuinely concerned look on his face, almost making Cassie laugh out loud.

“Pretty much everything.” Meghan deadpanned leaning forward on the sword in her hands.

Cassie scoffed and turned around to face her, “I am not that bad!”

“I can train with you if you want?” He said, his eyes sincere as he stared down at her.

“Um, I would like that actually,” Cassie said, running her hands through her hair and trying to appear nonchalant.

Ellis grinned widely before telling her to wait as he went to grab a sword from the rack by the cabin.

She quickly turned around to Meghan and screamed, “Oh my freaking gods!”

“He is so into you Cassie!”

“Do you think so?”

“Of course! Just look at you, you’re so pretty!” Meghan gushed.

“Yeah, but we live in a cabin full of pretty people, you're pretty too! So being just pretty doesn’t cut it anymore. The girls here can do all sorts of stuff like scale buildings and grow plants with their fingers.”

“Okay, no one here can scale a building, you’re just being extra,” Meghan laughed.

“Meghan I’m serious though. Being pretty is the only thing I’m good at and who knows how long that’s going to last. Maybe until my late forties… or most likely late fifties because it’s me, but that’s not the point.”

“Well the least you can do is just accept a lesson, he didn’t ask you out yet.”

“True.” Cassie agreed as she turned around again watching tentatively as Ellis came running back in all his Ares glory, his sword glinting in the sunlight.

***

Throughout the full two weeks of her poop-scooping sentence, Cassie trained with Ellis instead of Meghan in sword and shield practice and snuck out with Connor after lights out to hang out in the arcade at the Quik-Mart. Juggling it all had proven difficult but it had also been a lot of fun.

After they had wiped the stables from top to bottom for the last time Chiron had requested a meeting with her and Connor, and he warned them that if another incident happened between them he would have much worse punishments in mind. They’d both exited the Big House with knowing looks as they walked to dinner.

Cassie was currently picking between hats to wear tonight at the mini-party she and Connor had planned to celebrate the end of their sentence. Ty had ordered a sheet cake and thirty boxes of pizza just for the occasion. She’d finally settled on a grey beanie, and tip-toed to the door when she heard movement behind her.

She froze, and slowly turned around, expecting to see Piper standing behind her with a stern expression, but was surprised to see Drew glaring at her with an expression similar to that of a blobfish.

“Where do you think you’re going?”

“Who me?”

“No the other dumb bitch behind you. Yes, you!” She hissed.

“I was just going to the um… bathroom?” I said unconvincingly.

I silently cursed Aphrodite for not being the Goddess of lying as Drew’s scrutinizing eyes analyzed my pathetic form.

“Would you even believe that bull?”

“Probably not…”Cassie admitted in shame.

“I don’t know where you and dorky little boyfriend have been sneaking off to every night, but I do know that I want in.” Drew crossed her arms and arched her brow, daring Cassie to turn her down.

“We do too!” the forms of Meghan and Mitchell materialized in the dark behind Drew, making Cassie groan into her hands quietly.

“No you guys cannot come, we’ll get caught!”

“Then I’ll accidentally wake Piper,” Drew smirked and pure evil radiated off of her in waves.

Cassie sneered, “You wouldn’t.”

Drew whipped around, her raven locks smacking Cassie in the face as she did, “Oh, Piper, dear sister!”

Cassie jumped forward covering Drew’s mouth with her hand.

“Are you crazy! You’ll get us killed!” Cassie's eyes were wide and alert as she scanned the room to see if Piper had stirred.

Meghan scoffed, “They are not gonna kill us.”

“Cleaning those stables is death! I couldn’t tell you how many times someone knocked on the door and I thought it was Thanatos ready to collect my corpse.”

“We don’t care,” Drew shoved her off and raised her eyebrows, “Well?”

Cassie’s eyes slit as she glared at the three of her siblings, “Fine. But only tonight.”

Meghan and Mitchell collapsed hands and jumped up and down as Drew slung her purse over her shoulder and sashayed out of the cabin door.

Cassie followed them out, grumbling obscenities under her breath as she lightly shut the door.

When they arrived by the van, Connor's legs hung from the side of his open door like they always did when he was waiting for Cassie.

“What’s got you so late today Princess, you been-” Connor paused as he eyed her stowaways, “Who invited the Brady Bunch?”

“They threatened to tattle if we didn’t let them come.”

Connor glared for a couple of moments before shrugging, “Hop in.”

“Yes!”

Meghan and Mitchell raced into the van and Drew brushed past, Cassie, walking over to the passenger door and yanking it over.

“Uh, Drew, I’m riding shotgun,” Cassie said, holding the side of the door.

“Well, I’m not sitting in the back with those idiots, so it looks like you lost a seat.”

“Drew, get the hell out of my seat,” Cassie's voice became deadly as she gripped the door handle tightly.

“Why don’t I just ask Chiron if I can sit in this seat? This is his van right?”

After a three-minute glaring contest between her and Drew, Cassie let go of her pride and ignored the smug look on Drew’s face as she headed to the back to sit in between Mitchell and Meghan.

Within a couple of minutes, they were cruising along the road, and Cassie looked out of the window, worried about how dark it looked.

“Connor, maybe you should put on the floodlights, for some reason all the streetlights are off.”

She whispered looking out the back window.

Connor leaned forward, and his eyebrows furrowed as if he had just noticed it himself, “That’s weird, I’ve come this way for months and this has never happened before.”

He quickly flipped the switch for the floodlights, illuminating the path ahead of them.

“It’s probably just a power outage-” Just as Connor had turned the lights on they quickly flickered for a moment before fizzling out.

“Why’d you turn the lights off?” Drew questioned Connor with an annoyed expression on her face.

“I didn’t.”

Slowing the car down to a break, Connor and the rest of them(except for Drew) exited the car to inspect the lights.

“What the hell?” Connor said running his hand around the shape of the car light.

“What’s wrong?” Cassie said, moving forward to join him.

She gasped as she noticed that the lights had been smashed in, “How did this happen? They were perfectly fine when we left.”

A loud thump and Drew’s screaming made them turn around to see a giant snake looming over their heads.

Meghan screamed and Cassie followed suit as they froze in fear. The snake bared its sharp venomous fangs before diving for them.


End file.
